1. Unplug Your Television
Television has more of a disruptive influence on our lives and does more to affect our sanity than most other modern appliances. Since it was invented in the early 20th century, TV has slowly become an integral part of our daily lives and today influences how we think act and behave as individuals and as a society. Far from being an entertainment device, modern day television has become more of a platform for delivering incessant advertising messages, political propaganda and mind-numbing reality shows with little redeeming values.

Here are all the answers I have received on twitter for the following question: “What do you think is the biggest challenge that humanity is facing right now?” Thank you everybody, who contributed with their answers. A special thank you goes to Katie Reeves, who was interested in some of the answers and made this blog post happening.

The first part of the book, “The Quickening,” sets the scene. It opens with the increasing pace of life we are all experiencing today. I show how this trend is not limited to modern times, but can be traced back through history all the way to the beginning of creation. What we are experiencing today is the culmination of billions of years of ever-accelerating development.

Why does evolution accelerate? The answer lies in the fact that new evolutionary breakthroughs often facilitate future advances. Multicellular organisms, sexual reproduction, and the emergence of nervous systems have each done their part to hasten the pace of evolutionary change. Now, with the emergence of human beings, two new features are speeding development yet further.

As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, do consumers ever wonder what happens to their stuff from holidays past? “The Story of Stuff”, a new short film released today online, takes viewers on a provocative tour of our consumer – driven culture – from resource extraction to iPod incineration – exposing the real costs of this use-it and lose-it approach to stuff.

Last year Americans spent $456.2 billion during the holiday season, and this year sales are predicted to rise 4 percent to $474.5 billion. “The Story of Stuff” reveals that holiday consumption is not a seasonal phenomenon, rather an American maxim that has devastating consequences for our environment, third-world nations, working class Americans, personal health and even the general state of happiness in America.